Thursday, June 21, 2012

May Arts Graphic 45 Blog Hop and Giveaway!

Hello everyone. I am very excited to say that this is my VERY FIRST G45 blog hop! And ironically it's my Birthday! So to celebrate, not only am I going to share a wonderful tutorial with you, I am going to give away THIS COMPLETED PROJECT too! Simply follow my blog and leave a comment on this post and I will choose a random winner to be announced June 25th at 6pm PST here on the blog. (if you are already a follower just let me know in your comment!)

So what's in the box? A handwired necklaced created with Graphic 45 and May Arts Ribbon!

To purchase some of the Amazing Ribbon in the tutorial visit May Arts CLICK HERE!

Start with some 14 gauge wire I use THIS- something nice and thick that will hold its shape-cut to your size liking- I wanted mine about 10 inches finished so I cut 14 inches to leave room to make the loops

grab about 2 inches below the end

and bend to a 90 degree angle with your flat nosed pliers

wrap around the top of your round nosed pliers

Take out your pliers and insert them so the bottom round nose is now in the hole- look carefully at pic above and this one to see difference where the pliers are positioned.

Then wrap wire the rest of the way around creating a loop

Grab the loops with your flat nosed pliers and with your finger wrap wire around base of loop-see below

Now- as a rule I would teach you to use your other set of pliers to do the wrapping but this wire is very strong and you can ruin your pliers- you only need to go around twice and it doesn't need to be pretty- it wont show!

snip off any excess wire

very important- sand down the sharp edge! and Repeat for other side!

now you should have your 10 inch or so wire with loops on both ends

now grab your 20 gauge wire- I used Artistic Wire in gunmetal you can get HERE

Now measure out 3.5 times the length of your Base wire- thats 35 inches for a 10 inch base

Now grab your May Arts ribbon stash!

Cut each ribbon 3 or so inches longer than your Base piece- 13 inches for mine

You want to pick a variety of ribbon, different colors shapes, textures etc. I used 5 in the final project- too many and some get lost-too little and you can see the base wire.

Now group them all up around one of the ends, going just slightly past the very end- the base wire should be in the middle

Take your 20 gauge wire and do a few tight wraps around the end right below the loop to secure the ribbon

Now the fun begins! Grab a handful of beads, buttons, charms, vintage lace whatever you can string on a wire!

Start at the end of the 20 gauge and string your pieces along, wrapping around the Base wire as you go

You will be going down and back up, so only put something every other wrap

Kepp an eye out for what is the front and make sure your pieces all face front

when you get to the end-do a few more tight wraps right under the loop and go back down adding more goodies as you go

I actually cut this one a little short- I only did 3x the length of my base wire so it was a little short- but no worries....

wherever it ends...

just take your round nose and bend it inward and bury it in the ribbon

Now, I liked how the end s of the ribbon looked so I just trimmed them a little

on the starting side though I trimmed them right down to the loop.

Now on to the focal piece. I got this little one at a show somewhere, but you can find some cool ones to use HERE. I traced around my image from Graphic 45 A Ladies Diary and cut it out

Then I hot glued behind the piece- making sure it was a solid line of glue so my 3D Crystal Lacquer wouldn't spill out

This is what I mean- a solid line

Then I filled in with Crystal Lacquer but you can use Glossy Accents or ICE resin

Happy Birthday Denise & Congratulations on your 1st blog hop. I have been a follower of your blog via 'blogger' for a long time, but have now signed up as a member. OMG I would Love, Love, Love to win this necklace. You are so generous. It is truly stunning & would go perfectly with my outfit for my cousin's wedding. To think I could tell everyone it was a Denise Hahn original. All my family are crafters so they would be so jealous. Fingers crossed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Such a lovely necklace and use of the ribbon and papers!! Your first blog hop is a WOW!! Congratulations and much continued success. Thank You so much for your inspiration and thinking 'out of the box'!

I became a follower today! Can't wait to show my sister this necklace... she is more the jewelry maker and paper crafter. I just tell her what jewelry I'd like her to make for me and I paper craft. So much easier on my side of the equation.

Denise, the necklace is totally awesome and the beautiful box using "A Ladies' Diary" paper and May Arts ribbon sets it of exquisitely. The tutorial was quite informative and I learned so much from it. Thanks! I hope you have a great birthday.

Happy Birthday! I hope you have a happy and blessed day. Your box and necklace is so beautiful, I love what you did with the Graphic 45 and May Arts products. I am a new follower and would love to win. Thank you for the chance.

Happy Birthday to you. Your project is beautiful and so different from all the other wonderful projects. What fun that you are giving it away to some lucky winner. Thank you so much for inspiring yet another use for these beautiful ribbons and paper.

Happy birthday Denise! Hope you have a lovely day. This box is gorgeous and the necklace too! So sweet of you to offer this as a giveaway :) I am a new follower - can't believe I was not already following as I love your projects with G45!

First off I would like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Secondly what amazingly beautiful work you do. I would like to thank you for sharing and taking the time to show us your wonderful project's! TY (following)

1st) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 2ND) Congrats on your first Graphics 45 blog hop...I can see why you are with them. You are so talented!!!! 3) I joined your blog today and added you in my blog reader so I can easily see your posts. 4) Beautiful project!!!! Simply Gorgeous!

Happy Birthday!! And what a great piece of jewelry, now that's thinking "outside" the box!! Okay, I couldn't resist! Actually the necklace is very elegant and will make someone out there very, very happy. Maybe me?

Denise, Happy Birthday..sweet, precious Lady. I hope your Birthday turns out to be everything you want it to be and more. You are so blessed with creativity and talents of sharing your tutorials. You truly are a continued blessing to me in helping me grow and increase my love of crafts and making keepsakes. And you still give on your Birthday. The necklace is absolutely gorgeous anyone would be so proud and happy to show it off. Thank you for that opportunity..I am already a follower.

This is totally and absolutely gorgeous. Having just had the Ladies Diary Range arrive I have been oohing ahhing and procrastinating. Now I am totally inspired.I hope your Birthday is a very special one.

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, be glad you can't hear me singing this . . .LOL! How sweet of you to create a gift for us on your birthday! I am an email subscriber and I would be thrilled to win your prize.

The ribbons complement the papers so well. It's almost like the designers work together when creating the paper and ribbons. Haven't been able to figure out how to follow.Would love to watch your work.